Ron's New Outfit
by MissWitchx
Summary: FIC CHALLENGE/ Oneshot: What would happen if Harry Potter characters stepped into the shoes and situations of the beloved 'Friends' characters? Based around the plot of TOW The Birth Mother. Harry/ Ginny/ Hermione/ Neville/ Ron/ Luna


**A/N: **This was a fic challenge from rosesbymidnight. Basically, I was given a Friend's episode but had to recreate it using Harry Potter characters.

Rachel - Hermione

Ross - Ron

Chandler - Harry

Monica - Ginny

Phoebe - Luna

Joey - Neville

* * *

**18****th**** March 2003, 3:20pm**

'Sorry we can't stay longer guys but we have to head off to London for our adoption interview.' Harry announced as he drained the remaining Butterbeer from his glass and rose from the table, as did Ginny.

'Oh right yeah with that flower girl?' Luna said dreamily but excitedly nonetheless. Hermione, Ron, and Neville did their best to contain their laughter around her. Since the War, the six of them had made it a routine to meet once a month in the Three Broomsticks, just for a general catch up.

'Luna for the last time her name is _Fleur.'_ Ginny rolled her eyes but giggled all the same.

'Potato, potah-to.' Luna shrugged and walked over to the bar. 'Same difference really, don't you think?' Her voice trailed away as she disappeared into the throng of people.

'So you're adopting?' Neville said. 'That's so cool, next time we see you, you'll have a baby! And Fleur, _where _do I know that name?'

'She's our potential surrogate; was the Beauxbatons champion in the Triwizard Tournament. Yeah, we didn't actually know it was her until we were sent the full details. But that's hardly important, what matters is that Harry and I need to make a good second first impression.' Ginny smiled, though there was a manic look in her eye as she turned to face Harry as if to warn him to be on his best behaviour.

'Wait a minute what are you talking about? She's obviously going to pick you since she already knows you!' Hermione reasoned. Ginny's face lit up.

'YES! You're right. Oh Godric, she'll pick us. I just know it.'

'Gin, not to rain on your parade but what happened to that little talk we had this morning? You know the one where we agreed to _not _get our hopes up?' Harry laughed awkwardly and looked at his wife meaningfully through his glasses. By this time, Ginny had run around the table to hug Hermione.

'You're going to be a great mum.' Hermione squealed.

'I KNOW!' Ginny practically shouted.

'So we're still set on the not getting our hopes up thing?' Harry said sarcastically but amusedly as Ginny hugged him and kissed his cheek.

'Come on you, let's go get us a baby!' She practically dragged him out of the pub. Harry turned back quickly to wave goodbye to his friends with a bemused expression.

'So who's this flower girl Luna was talking about?' Neville asked Hermione as the couple departed.

'Oh Neville, she had just mistaken Fleur's name, that's all.' She said as she glanced over to the bar, wondering what was taking the quirky blonde so long to get the drinks. Luna was stood chatting to someone but Hermione couldn't make out who it was.

'Is that Cho Chang?' Neville squinted as he followed Hermione's gaze. Hermione had no time to respond as Luna had skipped back to the table.

'Er, Luna? Drinks?' Hermione asked.

'Oh yes, I'd love another Butterbeer, thank you.' She smiled. Hermione shook her head and left the table to get the next round in herself. Neville shuffled his chair closer to Luna, his eyes still fixed on Cho, who was still stood at the bar.

'Hey Luna…?' His question hung in the air.

'No, Neville. I can't. I won't.' She said simply. 'I can see it in your eyes what you're about to ask the answer is no.' Luna continued as she wagged a finger in front of Neville's face. His face fell.

'What, why not?' He whined.

'I've set you up with my friends before, and each time you've found some stupid excuse not to go out with them again. And this time is no different. I read your tea leaves after we had lunch together yesterday and the wrackspurts in your head right now are even more confirmation that if you went on a date with Cho, you wouldn't have the decency to send her an owl to arrange to go out again the next day.' Neville looked confused but decided not to argue against Luna having known her many years and therefore knowing her personality inside and out.

'If I promise to arrange a second date with her then will you give me her contact details?' Neville pouted at Luna, employing the 'puppy-dog eyes' technique. Luna looked sceptical. 'It's not my fault. My Gran never would have approved of any of the girls I've dated before. I have to be picky. If I started dating a girl she didn't approve of she'd get angry…you don't want to see her when she gets angry.' Neville shuddered.

'I suppose so. I see your aura pulsing; that's a sure sign you're telling the truth.' She smiled and scribbled down Cho's address so Neville could send her an owl. He absent-mindedly patted down and checked his body, pointlessly searching for the aura that he couldn't see but Luna somehow, could. He received the parchment from the blonde and leapt out of his seat and ran out of the pub, almost knocking Hermione flying in the process.

'What's up with him? Is there a sale on in Honeydukes?' Hermione laughed as she placed the tray of drinks down. Luna said nothing, seemingly not hearing her. She rose from the table once again and disappeared into the ladies' toilets.

'You're awfully quiet.' Hermione commented to Ron, who hadn't spoken for quite some time.

'I've a date tonight.' Ron said quietly.

'Oh.' Hermione replied indifferently. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a little awkward. She and Ron used to date after all, but that was almost a year ago and they'd been on good terms recently. Their breakup hadn't been the easiest or simplest to get through; they'd debated and argued about it so often that the details were hazy to her as she contemplated it. They'd been on a break… and something happened but she had trouble placing exactly what that was.

'You don't seem too enthusiastic about it.' Hermione commented awkwardly. Ron shuffled in his seat and there was a soft 'thud' from under the table. Unable to resist, Hermione jumped into detective mode and bent down in her seat to find the source of the noise. A paper bag lay on its side, the contents of which were partially spilled out over the stone floor. Intrigued, she reached out to see what it was but Ron had got there first and wrestled the bag out of her hands.

Hermione straightened up once more and narrowed her eyes suspiciously upon seeing Ron's beetroot-coloured ears. 'What's in the bag?' She asked innocently.

'Nothing.' Ron said as he began pushing the bag behind his back.

'It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with your date tonight, would it?'

'No...' Ron said slowly, crossing his arms across his chest. It was the same tone a child would speak in when confronted by their parents who had found them with chocolate stained lips and sat beside a mountain of foil wrappers. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him and he gave in. 'Fine.' He muttered, unfolding his arms. 'Well this'll be the first date I've had in a while and I'm really nervous. I met this girl in the Ministry one day and we really hit it off, so I really want this date to go well. Fred and George told me that I need to impress her, you know, really stand out. Be cool.'

Hermione inwardly cringed in anticipation of what was to come next. Ron didn't have a good track record when it came to things he had labelled 'cool' in the past.

'Go on…' She said.

'Well I was in a Muggle shopping area the other day and I saw these in a window. The guy who worked there said they were one of the latest fashions. I tried them on, and well, I didn't think much to them at first but dad reckons they're perfect. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty desperate; all of my clothes are almost worn out or holey-'

'For Godric's sake Ron, just show me what's in the bag. Or, tell me at least.' Hermione said in exasperation. Ron nodded rigidly and passed the bag to Hermione under the table. She couldn't help but snort with laughter when her eyes fell on its contents.

'Oh bloody hell, what's wrong with them?'

'Nothing nothing, unless you were a cast member in _Grease.'_ Hermione tried to keep a straight face as she prodded the leather trousers within the bag. Ron didn't understand the point his friend was trying to make but he knew by the tone of her voice that it was a big thumbs-down in his outfit choice. Seeing her friend's distraught expression, Hermione passed the bag back to him and attempted to calm him down.

'Well I think its safe to say that you should be banned from choosing your own clothes, for like, the rest of eternity. Believe me, I think your mum was doing you a favour when she always gave you your brothers' hand-me-downs.' Ron had not laughed along with her joke, so Hermione changed her approach. 'Look, Luna and I were planning on going shopping after we leave here, how about we pick something out for you.'

'No offence but I'd rather wear the leather trousers than something Luna picks out for me.' Ron said in a low voice as the dreamy blonde materialised from the toilets and began walking towards them.

'Fine, _I'll _pick something for you. We've been friends since we were eleven, you can trust me.' Hermione said evenly. Her offer seemed to relax Ron, who had let out a sigh of relief.

'Okay, deal. But this will be on your shoulders if this date goes badly.' He warned jokingly. 'We're meeting at 7:00 tonight so drop by my flat when you've got the stuff.'

'Great.' Hermione finished her Butterbeer and walked over to Luna. 'Let's get going, we've got a mission.'

'Ooh, how exciting.' Luna sing-songed as she left the pub with Hermione, both girls waved goodbye to Ron upon departure.

* * *

**6:30pm**

'I am _not_ happy about this.' Ginny stated snappishly for what felt like the thousandth time. She was pacing back and forth in front of Harry in the Medi-Witch's waiting room, uncaring about the disapproving looks she was getting from healers and patients alike.

'Gin, just calm down. Fleur'll see us soon enough. There was just a mix-up with our appointment times, that's all.'

'Oh Godric, whose side are you on, Potter? We've been set back three hours and we've both seen at least twenty couples going through that door in that time-'

'Must be pretty crowded in there now, huh?' Harry said in a vain hope to diffuse the tension.

Ginny didn't seem to hear, however.

'What if she's already picked someone? What about our baby?' The feisty redhead was becoming more and more worked up with every passing second, and by now Harry was having a hard time withstanding it.

'Ginny. She _will _see us, okay. But you need to calm yourself down before we go in. We need to make a good second first impression, remember.' Harry's words seemed to have gotten through to his wife, for she slumped helplessly into the chair next to his.

'Mr and Mrs Potter?' A healer emerged from the door on the right-hand side of the small waiting room.

'That's us.' Ginny said a little shakily as she stood up. She turned back to Harry and prodded his chest. 'Now get your game face on, Potter. Don't think I didn't hear your little joke just now, and so help me if you answer _one _question sarcastically, I will kick your arse.' Threats like these seemed a regular quirk in their marriage, and over time Harry had come to find them endearing. On this occasion, however, he knew Ginny was serious. He'd never tell her but the woman scared him sometimes, particularly when she administered her famous Bat-Bogey hex.

Harry took his wife's hand and walked with her into the room. It was fairly plain; only filled with a coffee table and two facing fabric sofas on either side of it. To Harry, it had the appearance of an interrogation room, though he decided to keep his mouth shut; Ginny's threat still fresh in his mind.

Fleur Delacour was perched elegantly on one of the sofas. She hadn't changed at all since the Potters last saw her at the Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament; silvery-blonde hair fell down to her waist just as it had before. The only physical change was, of course, the small bump that protruded from her abdomen.

'Mon Dieu! 'Arry, eez that you?' Her eyes widened in surprise as they fell on the couple. Ginny cleared her throat expectantly beside Harry and he sighed. His wife hadn't exactly been Fleur's biggest fan whilst she had been at their school after all. In a way it spoke volumes that Ginny was willing to potentially endure Fleur's company for the next six months or so.

'Hi Fleur.' Harry said as he guided Ginny to the empty sofa opposite Fleur. Ginny forced a smile and nodded rigidly at the blonde. Fleur turned to the healer, who was stood beside the door.

'Merci, 'Ealer Cooper. You may go.' She waved the woman away in her usual superior manner. The healer rolled her eyes as she departed and Ginny couldn't help but do the same. 'Eez 'zere a problem, Jenny, eez eet?' Fleur had noticed Ginny's eye roll.

'It's Ginny, actually Fleur.' The redhead said politely. 'And no, no problem at all. Just had something in my eye.' She lied. Fleur didn't look convinced though so Harry cut in.

'So, small world isn't it. We're here, you're here…' He was stating the obvious but he was desperate for the conversation to move forward. He saw Ginny fleetingly glare at him through his peripheral vision.

'Oui, eet eez quite a co-een-cidence.' Fleur smiled awkwardly at him.

'So, do you have any questions for us, Fleur?' Ginny asked.

Harry had to admit, he admired Ginny's determination to get through the interview without storming from the room in sheer annoyance at the blonde. Harry had never minded her that much in his fourth year, but her personality did become a little grating after talking with her at length. But they had gotten through it, and Harry hadn't joked once. Well, maybe he had accidentally spoken before thinking once or twice but Fleur hadn't seemed to notice. Soon their interview began drawing to a close.

'Well I 'aff to see ze next couple in two min-eetz.' Fleur glanced at her watch. Ginny's face fell and Harry felt his stomach plummet with dread. It couldn't be good news if that was her opening line for ending their meeting. ''Owever, I don't think eet will be necessary.' She smiled at the Potters. There was a drawn out silence.

'Oh Godric, Fleur can you just tell us what you mean?' Ginny's outburst shocked Fleur, but she seemed unperturbed by it and laughed musically.

'Eet is okay Gee-nee. I understand you must be feeling nervous and zat eez why you have seemed on edge today.' Harry resisted the urge to laugh at her ignorance to the true reason behind Ginny's mood. 'I 'av seen a lot of nice couples, but you two are so lov-eeng and I 'av already been around you and known you. So I'd be 'onoured eef you would be ze ones to adopt my bab-ee.'

'Oh Merlin!' Ginny leapt out of the seat. Harry couldn't believe his eyes when his wife hugged Fleur, tears of happiness flowing down her freckled face. 'Thank you so so much!'

'Eet eez an 'onour.' Fleur repeated, looking uncomfortable at being hugged so suddenly. Harry detached Ginny and put an arm around her. He thanked Fleur and sat Ginny back down on their sofa so they could fill out the forms.

'You know, that woman's not so bad.' Ginny said as they left the Medi-Witches.

'You're only saying that because she chose us.' Harry laughed.

'Harry, I'd say Voldemort wasn't so bad if he agreed to give us his baby!' She laughed. Harry shuddered at the thought but laughed along with his wife nonetheless. He felt on top of the world.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

'Merlin's underpants, could you have cut it any finer?' Ron pointed dramatically to his wall clock as Hermione and Luna apparated into his flat.

'Sorry Ron, we-' Hermione began as she and Luna set down the mass of bulging shopping bags.

'No. You see. What does it say? It's six-forty five. My date is at seven! That is fifteen minutes. _Fifteen minutes_.'

'Yeah okay, Ron we get it. And would it have killed you to at least brush your hair while you were waiting for us?' Luna said.

'What's wrong with it? It took me twenty minutes to do this. Oh Merlin it'll have to do. Now give me my clothes and leave.' Ron clapped his hands at his friends as a means to hurry them along. Hermione seemed extremely flustered by his clapping and looked back and forth between the bags in search for the items she and Luna had picked for him; it completely slipped her mind to use her wand to summon the items.

Finally catching a glimpse of a familiar colour, she thrust the bag into Ron's hand and apparated away with Luna. Ron hurriedly rummaged through the bag and withdrew the contents with a slight grimace. He had no time to question the decision of his friends however and threw on the questionable garment without a second thought.

Hermione and Luna arrived at the flat they shared laden with the remaining shopping. They each took their bags to their individual rooms and began levitating the contents to their wardrobes. Luna let out a small squeak of surprise when her wand levitated a man's jumper from one of her bags. There had clearly been a mix-up over at Ron's flat; the jumper before her was midnight blue and was trimmed with a pink stripe around the bottom in a similar style of their Hogwarts uniforms. Sure it had pink on it but she and Hermione had agreed that the blue would bring out the colour of Ron's eyes beautifully. Luna rummaged through her remaining shopping by hand and noted the item of hers that was missing. She sighed and apparated to Ron's flat with the jumper in hand. But he had already left, and the shopping bag Hermione had handed him earlier was empty.

* * *

**9:00 pm**

'Oh Neville, hey how'd it go with Cho?' Luna asked excitedly as the former Gryffindor apparated into the flat, where she and Hermione had been chatting on the sofa.

'Er, okay. Yeah she's a great girl.' He replied.

'So what now? Are you going to go out again?' Neville paused at Luna's question.

'I don't think so, no.' He said decisively, though he avoided Luna's gaze as much as possible.

'Neville Longbottom what's the problem? I thought she was a 'great girl'.' Luna's voice was airy and dreamy as it always had been, but there was an angry edge to how she spoke that made Neville look uneasy.

'Well everything was going fine, we had fun, we connected…'

'So what went wrong?' asked Hermione. Neville gulped, somewhat edging away from Luna's wide-eyed but annoyed gaze.

'Well I ordered a side of chips with my main course, and Cho ordered a salad.' Hermione snorted, knowing Neville well enough to see where this conversation could be going next.

'-and then she reached across the table and took one of my chips off my plate.' He smiled weakly.

'So what next?' Luna asked. When Neville didn't continue she looked like she was going to smack him. 'Are you serious? You aren't going out with her again because she ate one of your chips?!'

'Kinda…' Neville said.

'Maybe I should have cleared those wrackspurts out of your head when I had the chance earlier today.' Luna said absently.

'You don't understand. It may sound stupid to you, but to me, it was a big deal.' Neville protested indignantly. Luna was staring in disbelief but Hermione began giggling.

'Luna, honey, Neville doesn't share food.' She said, hoping to shed some light on the matter to the blonde.

'See, Hermione gets it. Neville doesn't share food!' Neville said loudly.

'But why? It was just a chip.' Luna said.

'This isn't about a chip. This is about all food, as the chips represent.' Neville went on, sighing. 'Look, I lived with my Gran until I started at Hogwarts. And she had these cats… five of them. They liked to eat off my plate at mealtimes. She never stopped them, saying that it was 'adorable'. I always went to bed hungry; had to sneak out of bed and raid the fridge at night. It may sound stupid to you but I just don't like people taking my food, okay?'

'Well it was one time, if I talked to her about it then would you ask her out again?' Luna said reasonably.

'The damage has been done.' Neville said dramatically.

'Come on Neville, that's pretty shallow in a way. It's like when people make fun of me about my dress sense-' Luna began an attempt to reason with him, but right on cue Ron apparated into the room, his expression was sour.

'It's not funny!' He said indignantly as all three of the room's other occupants burst out laughing.

'Well if you didn't want us to laugh, you could have at least changed.' Hermione spluttered. Luna had told her all about the mixed up bags.

'Oh no, I just came back from my date. This is to show you just what I've been dressed like _in public _for the last two hours.' Ron's ears turned red as his eyes fell on Neville, who was staring at him in shock.

'Ron why are you wearing that?' He asked.

'Ask _them.' _The redhead pointed at the two young women, who were laughing so hard that they were unable to concentrate at that time. Luna had informed Hermione which item of clothing was missing from her bags and the mental image of Ron wearing it was enough to set her off, but actually seeing it was ten times funnier.

Ron was wearing a set of robes, the style of which was just like any other. Huge, garish images of overlapped roses adorned almost every inch of the garment, with mere sections of the midnight-blue background visible. The roses were various shades of pink, and clashed horribly with Ron's flaming hair. As if that wasn't enough, rhinestones were used to outline each section of each flower, and the trim around the sleeve holes and hem was made of lace. To top it all off, Ron had clearly tried to put an enlargement charm onto it since the robes were originally meant to be for Luna. The spell had clearly been only half-effective; whilst it fit Ron's mid-section, the sleeves only reached his elbows and looked extremely tight around his biceps, causing the roses to appear even more prominent.

When the laughter had subsided, Luna found her voice to explain to him what had happened. He had been annoyed with Hermione at first for not being more careful, but eventually had to laugh about his misjudgement on not recognising that there had been a mix up.

'I can't understand how you managed two hours wearing that and not realise something was wrong.' Hermione said. Ron's cheeks flushed.

'Well, truth be told when people started staring at me and pointing I thought it was for good reasons. Well, that's what my ego liked to think anyway.' He said sheepishly. 'Then about half way through the meal a little girl walked in with her parents and she was wearing the exact same thing.'

The laughter rose again throughout the room. The sound bounced off the walls so no one noticed the arrival of Ginny and Harry.

'Honestly Ron, I know you used to raid mum's wardrobe when we were little but this is just too far.' Ginny commented.

'I think it suits you, mate. Just stay away from swarms of bees.' Harry laughed.

'Oh my god, how did it go?' Hermione recovered first.

'We're going to have a baby!' Ginny squealed.

Cheers of excitement were exchanged between the six friends at the news, leaving Neville's protective attitude about his food and Ron's unfortunate state of dress forgotten… well not completely forgotten anyway…

* * *

**A/N: **That was so much fun to write! Hope you had just as much fun reading. Please review if so :)


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